Top 3 Tactics That No Longer Work for Digital Marketers

Growing up in Florida, I can’t count the times I heard the phrase, “Just wait ten minutes and the weather will change,” which of course was true but that’s besides the point. In this case the phrase also fits very neatly into the world of digital marketing. Trends and tactics for the industry change faster than Clark Kent, making it so the only way to keep yourself in the game is to roll with the punches through innovation and information. 

Below are three of the top once “go-to sure winners” that have might have worked for digital marketers in the past, but just aren’t getting the horse to the finish line any longer.

1. Twitter

No this isn’t going to be a “Twitter is Dead” post or anything of the sort. Only simple numbers, statistics and reality here. Twitter is still a fine go-to tool for many marketers. It’s great for promoting your business and networking with (or following) other like-minded people. Let’s think about that though, what if the problem with Twitter wasn’t the platform but how digital marketers are using it? Stale tweets, low engagement with followers, and both over and under selling.

Just recently though, Twitter has begun to regain some of its previous momentum with the media hoop-la surrounding President Donald Trump’s Twitter communication (antics). Twitter was on a downward spiral prior to his campaign and now presidential tweets but encountered a quick spike during the campaign that they are desperately attempting to hold on to. Although, recent events are proving to make it more difficult to accomplish the task.

Reportedly, Twitter saw a sudden and massive drop in share value after some of their high profile accounts were hacked and used to post tweets in favor of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodogan. Shares fell nearly 2% to $15.03 earlier this month.

2. SEO Black Hat Tricks

Today’s SEO efforts no longer look like yesteryears Wild West (or HBO’s Westworld) days of black hat tactics. Gone are the days when messy keyword stuffing, content packed with nonsensical links and spun content were not only passable but worked. Google’s updated Panda and now Penguin algorithms now sort out and condemn shoddy content.

If you haven’t already ceased the following tactics, now (as in immediately) would be a good time to change lanes in your SEO efforts.

• Keyword stuffing – Keywords are still an essential part of any great piece of content, yet stuffing them willy nilly into posts is a great way to send up a red flag to search engines thus labeling your content as low quality.
• Link schemes – Buying external links, swapping links with irrelevant audiences, or just filling your content with non-relevant links are all horrible practices that just don’t work any longer.
• Scraping – Republishing content without permission. Say goodbye to copy & paste. Not only will you get penalized for duplicate content, you could face legal action.
• Cloaking – If you promise a visitor something on the other end of the link and don’t deliver, then you are guilty of cloaking.
• Automated content and / or spinning – There are tons of sites out there that will allow you to enter a batch of content that will then be “spun” into something similar. Problem is, it’s often too similar and will be picked up as duplicate content. Same goes for software that automatically produces “basic” content.
• Invisible text and links – Search engines no longer fall for your hidden or super small text and links.

Bottom line: Do the work and put in the time to churn out proper content.

3. Batch and blast email

Long gone are the days of being able to load up an template inside your email list host platform, pound out a few hundred words or so of text, send it off to your entire list of subscribers and then sit back in your desk chair while hitting refresh to watch the dough roll in.

These days, it requires a little bit more effort to get those dollar signs flying.

While email is still very much the preferred method of communication, however according to Return Path seventy percent of spam complaints filed are from previously opt-in newsletters and offers simply no longer desired by the subscriber.

In walks such platforms as Pinterest, who replaced the old batch and blast way of slinging mail with something that is completely tailored to the viewer. The fastest growing social “sharing” network partnered with SparkPost to ramp up their email efforts. Seth Weisfeld leads up Pinterest’s efforts around all notifications. Everything from desktop, email, push, and SMS he has his hands on.

“Email is an extension of the product. Pinterest itself is very personalized platform, so email needs to be, too.”

Westfield also has stated that the marketer’s dream of one day achieving one-to-one personalized engagement is right at the tip of being a reality.

“The vision we’ve talked about for years, a one-to-one marketing strategy that is natively multichannel, is actually achievable today. The quality of the technology to leverage big data and notifications is there.”

Bottom line.

What it all boils down to is simple. Roll with the tide of change. Don’t get caught up in your easy way of doing things just because it used to work for you. Read, research, and stay up to date on all current trends and changes in this ever changing industry.

Are your current efforts still working for you or have you switched up your game as well? We would love to hear all about it in the comments below.